We are home!

Hi Everyone,



We made it home today! In all my different scenarios in my head, never did I envision our homecoming! We were met at the airport by Uncle Chuck, and despite his big size, we even smiled at him. Could have been the very cool hello kitty bag he gave Xiao, but one never knows! :) It was a nice transition to Arizona, and since Marianne and I had parked our cars at Chuck and Kristi's new house, we got lunch and hung out for awhile. Xiao really enjoyed playing with her cousin's train set and really liked Charile's room with the monkey. Although I was a little nervous about leaving Aunt Marianne, we were very interested in our new car and our new car seat which is so fun to click into and out of. Xiao even managed a quick 30 minute nap on our drive down to Tucson and woke refreshed and still a little anxious as to what going to our house really meant. Since we had no food in the house, we needed to stop at the grocery store for bananas and watermelon our staples these days. After noticing the chocolate in the healthy food isle, I gave into Xiao's request for the chocolate. Although I tried to persuade her to get the one with peanut butter inside, Xiao was adamant that we get the mint one. After checking out and trying our first juice box, we snapped into our car seat and were on our way home. I told Xiao that she had to share her mint patties, one for Mom and two for Xiao, and after happily watching Mom eat hers, Xiao shoved the whole patty in her mouth. So, here I am giving a running dissertation on our neighborhood, the park, how the gates work etc, and it took us about 15 minutes to get home during which Xiao would just nod her head and I watched with growing anxiety as her lips became pursed and she would not talk. As we pulled into the driveway, we were met by my neighbor Marie and her son Jason who happened to be passing by. Although she smiled, Xiao would not say hello. My wonderful friend Mindy and my neighbor Shiela decorated our front door with balloons and all things hello kitty which was still met with only a nod and a smile. No words. As I opened the door and introduced Xiao to her new playroom and bedroom, I watched in horror as her face became more anxious and her eyes were as big as saucers. Finally, when I asked for the 100th time if she was ok, Xiao opened her mouth and in it was the ENTIRE mint patty! Needless to say, it promptly went from mouth to shirt to pants to floor. UGH!! Poor thing! She had this chocolate in her mouth for no less than 20 minutes and was too upset to let me know! We will be working on this issue along with her very serious/stoic demeanor! Xiao has a wonderful playful side and the best laugh and hope to hear more and more of that! After we were cleaned and dressed in new clothes, we happily went from bedroom to playroom and after finding the princess dress up drawer and puzzle drawer happily played until dinner. I don't think I will ever forget her face as she opened her mouth and all that chocolate came out! What a homecoming!!! Bed time went smoothly, and Xiao does love her new room and after putting her doll to bed happily climbed into hers. Looking forward to tomorrow and having Xiao meet her cousins Conner and Hanna and of course her dog Harley! Love to all and a special thanks to Aunt Marianne for coming with us to China and sharing in this amazing adventure.
p.s. Will attempt to download some pics and post tomorrow!

We made it to San Fransisco

Hi Everyone,

Well we made it to San Fran! What a champ Ella Xioayun was on the 12 hour flight. We had a brief melt down when I tried to get her to rest and the BIG strange male flight attendant wanted to talk to her, but outside of that she was amazing! Aunt Marianne really did a great job playing with her and for a 5 year old to hang out in a seat for 12 hours is pretty awesome in my book! Aunt Julie met us at the airport with flowers and watermelon and became an instant favorite and actually robbed Aunt Marianne of the first kiss! :) So happy to see that she is adapting and each day she is smiling more! We head home tomorrow and we get to pick up the big girl Harley on Monday. Can't wait to see her and also see how Xiao likes her dog. We are enjoying pointing to Aunt Julie's cat and she actually pet her once, but the big dogs have not been met with any type of success yet. Hoping to make that transition a happy one! :) The twins are a little young for Xiao, but she will be meeting her cousins Hanna and Conner on Monday, so that should be great fun for Xiao. One fun new thing for Xiao, but not so much for Mom, is the concept of being carried. We think it is great fun to be carried and not have to walk, and although I LOVE the physical contact, carrying around a 40+ lb little one is something!!
Disneyland in Hong Kong was amazing fun. Our new adoptive friends Tammy and Dave met us at the gate with their son B and new daughter Mei Mei. What a great day and Ella Xiao LOVED space mountain but her favorite ride was It's a Small World. Honestly, I think it is impossible to have a bad day at Disneyland and what fun it was to hear Xiao laugh and smile! We had a small freak out during the 3D movie presentation because it was a little too much sensory overload but enjoyed every other part of the day except saying good-bye to our new friends. Turns out we do not like hugs for good-byes which is certainly understandable.
Today we went to Golden Gate park and although the huge climbing playground was scary at first, by the end of our time there we had climbed everything, had two wipe outs and LOVED the swings. A success all around. Trying to keep everyone up until tonight so that we can try and get adjusted to the time change. Tired campers all around but two starbucks and a coke and happy to say that we are still awake! Xiao fell asleep on the muni on the way home from the park but woke up once we got to Julie's place. There are so many fun things to do at Aunt Julies , and the twins are fun to watch!
Thanks to all my friends for your posts and comments! Can't wait for you all to meet Ella Xiao!

Hi Everyone,

Well, it has been a busy couple of days! We have resorted to eating in the lounge area with take out because the interest in Ella Xioayun is too much at meals times and we are trying to avoid the inevitable melt down from the questions and comments. This has helped tremendously and meal time is actually a fun time now. My daughter, as expected, is quite the pro at chop sticks and although she likes to use her fork and knife for the breakfast foods, all the rice and noodle dishes must have chops! :) We have enjoyed some local outings the past few days. We went to a local park where they have some kid rides which was wonderful. Ella Xiaoyun only wanted to go on the fast and crazy rides and because of her size, a parent had to accompany her. Tried to get Aunt Marianne to pony up and go on the rides but she just smiled and shook her head. Needless to say, three days later I still need to see a chiropractor and I lost my sunglasses on the neck snapping roller coaster ride. Worth it to hear my daughter laugh out loud and smile the whole time!! Too funny. We have to protect Ella Xioayun on the outings because since she is older, people want to talk to her and ask questions. This never ends well, so we are still trying to block her! We went to the local zoo which was amazing fun, and Ella Xiaoyun was able to see all the animals we have been reading about. She really liked the elephants and zebras but became really excited to see the show were some local artists were dancing and singing. Yesterday was a visit to another beautiful local park where we saw many people dancing, practicing Tai Chi and playing hacky sack! It is still over 90+ degrees here with about 100% humidity so you can imagine how we all must look during these outings. Completely drenched in sweat! This park had a nice muesuem that had some interactive fun things for the older kids to enjoy. Unfortunately one of the displays was a map of the world and showed the flight patterns to the US. Our coordinator told the older kids the path they would take on the plane, and this was a little too much for little Miss Ella Xiaoyun. I had to carry my 40+ lb daughter all the way back to the hotel from the park which was over three blocks away. Nothing like a mid-day work out! :) Some of the best times for Ella Xiaoyun are at the swimming pool, where she is quickly becoming a very daring jumper and swimmer! We practiced floating yesterday along with kicking and again, there is nothing like hearing her laugh out loud! She spoke her first full English sentence yesterday when we were playing at the pool with the ball. She was throwing the ball for Aunt Marianne to catch, and she said to her "Ready?" and when Aunt Marianne did not hear her, she said " Are you ready?" Wow, that was pretty impressive and she had so much fun! I am able to help her through her melt downs quicker now, and she will actually accept some physical contact with me so each day is a step forward. I am so grateful she is so brave and doing the best she can, and can't wait for her to meet her new family.Hope you are all doing well!

Hi Everyone,

Very excited to say that today was a great day with no tears and Ella Xiaoyun actually ate at all meals!:) The other families from CHI that have been at their Provinces, all came to the hotel today. It was nice to reconnect with some of the families that we had spent time with in Beijing. After waking up very solemnly, little miss Ella Xiaoyun is doing pretty good! We had to return for our TB check and of course since she had received the vaccine, she was positive. This required an x-ray which was negative in order to receive her visa. This is all required by the new reqs from the US govn. Hated to expose her to the x-ray, but would also like to get her home! We visited the market again after the medical to get some more juice boxes and crackers that she loves. Aunt Marianne has been dubbed Switzerland as almost all of the older kids just love her and can interact with her! One of the Mom's whose little one wont even look at her could not believe how her daughter opened up to Marianne. It has been great for Ella Xiaoyun too as she does enjoy getting her down time from the lady who is now her Mom. I am amazed at how advanced Ella Xiaoyun seems for her age! Xiaoyun can add/subtract, knows her entire alphabet in English and when she is willing to talk surprises us with how many English words she truly knows. The activities I brought have been a life saver and I truly believe have helped Ella Xiaoyun and I move forward pretty quickly. We made little pig coin purses yesterday which taught her how to sew, and we then gave them to all the little girls in our group. They were quit a hit, and Ella Xiaoyun loved making them. The pool was closed yesterday for a modeling show, so we turned our tub into a small swimming pool and had a lot of fun and actually was able to see Ella Xiaoyun's funny side! She has a great sense of humor and we actually laughed together for the first time! Amazing! Turns out my little one is the biggest girly girly around! Barbie wins out over all the toys, and if anything ha! s pink i n it, we LOVE IT!! After being upset by something that was said to her at dinner by a local resident, we went back to the room and painted our nails pink which ended the melt down in half the time it would have taken. The local people are quit enthralled with Ella Xiaoyun and want to come up and say how pretty she is and ask questions. This never goes well, so Aunt Marianne and I are now pretty much having to block her from anyone talking to her without telling us what they are saying. She has quickly become a favorite to all with her "Hello" greeting each day at breakfast and her adorable smile. Am so thankful for my amazing daughter and how strong and brave she has been. Love to all and hope to update soon.

Hi Everyone,

Day three and having a real strong day for Xiao Yun. There is another family here that is adopting a little 22month old girl, and they have a 5 year old daughter. They are on the same floor, and we have been playing with them this morning. They have this wonderful executive lounge which gives us some extra space to play and run around. Xiao loves to do stickers, puzzles and color. We played an indoor version of golf which she enjoyed but the American style of jump rope just had her shaking her head. Xiao is pretty much sticking to the banana and watermelon diet so we will add some ice cream today for calories and she enjoys all the food she picked out at the local market, mostly snack items but all calories count at this point. Today is a rest day with no activities which is nice for Xiao and frankly for Marianne and I too. It has been pretty much non-stop action from the get go. Xiao was a trooper yesterday with all the appointments, and we had a fun game of hide and seek which she is very good at playing! :) Our love to all and hope you are doing well.

Hi Everyone,

Where to begin? Xiao Yun (Sheeoo weiun) is the most amazing little girl! I am not sure how to describe the last two days? Gotcha Day was quit indescribable. We all took the bus to the adoption center at 2pm on Monday, and then rode an elevator to the 8th floor where we all then waited in a large room. The children were actually in a little play room next to the big room, and as we rode up in the elevator, one of the parents baby was riding up at the same time.Dad recognized the baby but Mom was not too sure. :) As we were waiting, Xiao Yun was brought in. I did not get to see her face but only saw her from behind and new it was my daughter. Of course the next 30 minutes was trying to catch a glimpse of her face to no avail. The social workers call each family one at a time and then present the child to the family. On this day there were about 15 families from various agencies, and you can imagine the noise level and because there is no air conditioning, it took the whole event to another level. When Xiao Yun came out, she had the most amazing smile and actually looked me in the eyes and was the most amazing little trooper. I managed to keep it in check because honestly after saying hello to your child, you then need to ask your prepared questions of the nannies with your social worker who interprets for you.

It turns out that Xiao Yun has been in a "family home" that is run by the orphanage and basically for the past 3.5 years has had a MaMa (Mom) and BaBa (Dad) and five other siblings. Shocking news since I did not know this is any of my updates, and was not prepared to help her with a transition from that setting but am very thankful because she had been loved and taken care of and clearly attached to them. There was another little girl from the same orphanage that was the same age and actually a friend of Xiao Yun's and unfortunately did not fair so well with the whole situation and basically started a complete melt down of all the older children including little Xiao Yun because they pulled her away from us to go and help this little girl and show her how to act, to no avail. Not comfortable with Xiao Yun having to handle that, I went up to the group and suggested that we all go back in the room where the kids originally wait and play in there with the parents until she felt comfortable. It was pretty rough from this point on because as you can imagine, the kids are realizing that they are now going to have to go with these strange looking people.

Fast forward to back at the hotel, and Xiao Yun is trying to keep it together only slightly interested in the toys and new clothes, and it was a pretty rough day and night until she finally fell asleep. It is an awful thing to hear your little one cry for her Dad and cry to go home, it certainly makes you question what is the best thing for your child. Yesterday, after a great start to the day outside of meal time which is turning out to be a tough time for Xiao Yun. I cannot pin down the actual cause, but think it is because she might feel that she has to eat what is put in front of her. To say she is tiny is an understatement, she is a beautiful tall 5 year old that is so little, I want to just give her bowls and bowls of ice cream! :) Anyway, after breakfast we had to go back to the center to finalize the adoption and unfortunately this was a difficult time for Xiao Yun because she did not want a new MaMa understandably so!

When we got back to the hotel, we went swimming which was the first time I actually got to here Xiao Yun laugh! Pretty wonderful! We spent the rest of the day shopping at the local market where we bought a pearl necklace for Xiao Yun and a new Barbie! :) Poor thing was so tired, we did better at dinner with her understanding she could tell me what she wanted and did not want, and since I let her pick out what she liked at the local market, we had back up items for her to eat. Turns out McDonalds is universally appealing, and we will be having that for lunch today for Xiao Yun to try and get her to eat a solid meal- hard to believe that I am excited about her eating this, but really just want her to eat a full meal!Xiao Yun is an amazing artist and I think off the charts in intelligence. As we were waiting yesterday for our turn with the authorities, I pulled out a kindergarten book, and basically Xiao Yun finished 75% of it in about 15 minutes even though it was in English. She can count to 20 in English and knows her ABCs and something in English that they each letter stands for. She can right her name in Chinese characters and because she was a part of the Half Sky program, I actually have a documented packet of her progress and pictures of her since she was about two I think. I am so thankful for this and for the education she has received. The nannies say that she is always the first to want to perform in front of the class and loves to dance and sing. Can't wait to see her want to do these things again, and am hoping for another great day today.We are going to the local park to play this morning and then off to the island for the check-ups and medical reports.

Greetings from China!

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all doing well! We made it!!! After a very long flight we unfortunately had a four hour wait at the airport because one of the families became separated and lost half their group! I suppose this is one reason why the agency requests that you do not bring a large group!! :)It is amazing here. VERY HOT and HUMID!! On Saturday we went to the Forbidden City and Ten. Square in the morning. Our guide told us that she had never seen that many people at these locations, so traveling during the summer holiday here has proven to be a slight challenge. During the afternoon we hiked the Great Wall! All Marianne and I can say is that pictures do not do this amazing wonder justice. It was absolutely beautiful and despite the 90+ degrees with 100% humidity, we hiked on up and took some amazing photos! It was cloudy yesterday, so as we were coming down, completely drenched head to toe in sweat, a light shower started and by the time we made it back to the bus, a full down pour occurred. Perfect ending to a very long strenuous day!Today, we traveled from Beijing to Guangzhou were we are staying at The China Hotel. We were given a room with a king size bed, and despite my appreciation to Marianne, could not imagine 2 weeks sharing one bed! Thankfully we were able to get the right room that we had reserved, and we have a nice view of this amazing park across the street. Weather here is the same, but we are going to take a stroll later to check out the park!Tomorrow we will travel to the adoption center and I will meet Ella. Please keep us in your thoughts and pray for a smooth transition. I am pretty excited abet exhausted with the 4am wake up call to start the day.